


Dance of the Rose

by OniRinku



Category: RWBY
Genre: Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:49:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OniRinku/pseuds/OniRinku
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose, Raven Branwen & Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 9
Kudos: 44





	1. The Future of This Story

I have been struggling with this story a lot lately, I love the idea that I came up with, but actually writing for it has been extremely difficult, and I feel like I finally know why now, THE STORY JUST ISN’T THERE. I feel like I’m repeating myself but I’ll say it again, the concept for the story was fine, but the direction I was taking it in just isn’t there. Furthermore when I look back at the very few chapters I have written I see many things that I’m just not happy with, and it honestly leaves me scratching my head as to why I wrote it in the first place. So I am here to announce that I am officially re-writing Dance of The Rose. It will remain a Raven raises Ruby AU, and I will continue to use the tribal words that I had used throughout the chapters but that is basically where the similarities end. I still want to expand on different cultures in Remnant, and how different groups behave differently which is why the tribal language will remain, but I will be using a new format when it comes to tribal words, before I would just use the word and throw the meaning out at the end of the chapter, and I know it frustrated a lot of the viewers, so going forward if I use a tribal word I will use italics on the word or saying and then immediately put the meaning in parenthesis.

For example: The word ad means child in the story, if you see the word pop up in the rewrite it will look like this ad(child), and then the story will go on, I had a lot of fun writing with these words and I want to keep using them in the rewrite but I also want you, the viewers to have a quick and easy time understanding the story, which is why I am implementing the new format change.

Furthermore I think the real reason I have been having so much trouble writing for this story is because I am trying to make characters who are fundamentally selfish people, into selfless people. Raven, Torchwick, Neo, they are all selfish people and I was trying to mold them into something and someone they were not. Something with how I depicted the White Fang, so in the rewrite Raven and Torchwick will be back in their canonical roles, same thing with the White Fang.

The biggest change in this rewrite will of course be Ruby herself, she will be her canonical age of fifteen instead of seventeen like in the original, though she still will be Qrow’s daughter in the story. Ruby will have normal silver eyes, and not solid white ones like she did in the original, and she will have Petal Burst as her semblance instead of the one I gave her. The biggest change however is Ruby’s relationship with Raven and with the Tribe, before it all felt forced whenever I wrote Ruby and Raven interacting with each other because again I was trying to make Raven a selfless person, and she isn’t. So in the rewrite instead of being a tribal member on a mission from Raven to infiltrate Beacon, Ruby is instead on the run from the tribe, she chose to leave the tribe’s lifestyle behind. Ruby has basically been wandering around Remnant for two years, and she just happens to find herself in Vale to stop Torchwick’s robbery. 

Ruby will continue to cover her face, because I did like the idea of the tribe having their own history, customs, language, traditions, art styles, and food because it makes the people of Remnant more unique. 

So yeah that’s about it, I know I didn’t get very far into the original, but I am still disappointed to take the first couple of chapters down, the first chapter of the rewrite might come out today, or maybe on Sunday, it all depends on if I have free time or not. So that’s basically everything, sorry to pull the plug on the people who enjoyed the original, but I hope that you like the rewrite even more.


	2. The Wandering Star

The cloaked being walked through the mostly quiet streets of downtown Vale, no one paid them any attention, and the few that did take notice of her quickly looked away when their eyes made contact with her mask. Ruby sighed as she pulled her red cloak tighter around her body, it was much colder in Vale than it had been near Vacuo, but it was still significantly warmer than it had been in Anima, getting caught outside during the End of Fruit Moon, or the Nut Moon while it was raining was practically considered a punishment in the tribe. Underneath her mask Ruby sighed at the mention of the tribe, in all honesty the fifteen year old wasn’t even sure WHY she suddenly decided to travel closer to Vale, for the last two years she had chosen to stay on the western end of the continent. But whether it be a whim or just a gut feeling, something about the eastern end of Sanus had been calling to Ruby, and it had been calling to her ever since she left the tribe. Ruby had chosen to ignore it for two years, instead focusing on traveling from settlement, to settlement, protecting people who needed it, whether that be from Grimm or from bandits. 

Thankfully the tribe had yet to establish a presence in Sanus, instead they seemed to be consolidating power in Anima. “ _ Kyramud balyc ge’hutuun _ (Killers and thieves)” Ruby muttered the tribal words to herself underneath her mask. Killers and thieves, that was what the tribe had become, but they were killers and thieves who were managing to create quite the power base for themselves in Anima, the only thing that Ruby didn’t understand was why Mistral’s academy, Haven didn’t just  _ naastar _ (destroy) the tribe. Hunters and hunters in training were the only force in Anima that had proven strong enough to handle the fighting forces of the tribe, yet Haven didn’t send the hunters after the tribe, it didn’t make any sense to Ruby. Some might tell Ruby to not question the mystery, to trust that the hunters, the adults knew what they were doing, but blind trust was why Ruby had committed countless crimes against both humans and faunus, blind trust was why Ruby hadn’t questioned why the tribe was killing women, and children. And blind trust was what turned Ruby into a  _ demagolka _ (real-life monster). Ruby had blindly trusted the tribe until it was too late, it might still be too late for Ruby herself, but even if she was just on a path to the eternal flames, then she would make sure that she took Raven, Vernal, and all the tribe down with her.

Underneath her mask Ruby perked up at the sight of a dust shop that was still open, Ruby probably hadn’t had access to the substance for almost two years at this point, she had managed to steal some from the tribe before she ran away from them, but she had quickly ran out, and it was almost impossible to find the substance traveling from settlement to settlement, hell she was lucky if some settlements had a place for her to sleep. Ruby pushed open the door only to pause when she realized that maybe, just maybe she had come in at the wrong time. The shop was currently getting picked dry, several men in black suits and red sunglasses were literally stealing every speck of dust that they could. Ruby felt her blood run cold at the disrespect the  _ chakaar _ (thieves) were showing the  _ vheh  _ (dust). The leader of the thieves was a man wearing a fancy white suit that looked as though it had just been cleaned, the suit was impeccable, without a single strand out of place, cruel green eyes stared out at Ruby’s mask from under a wild mop of fiery orange hair, and a black fedora hat. A cigar was hanging from the man’s mouth, and he leaned casually across the counter top, a cane was propped up against the counter as well, but Ruby somehow doubted that the man needed help walking. Ruby had to stare at the orange haired man for a while before she finally realized that she did in fact recognize him, as she got closer to the eastern half of Sanus stories of a criminal stealing dust had reached Ruby’s ears, and it seemed that the rumors were true. 

Roman Torchwick meanwhile stared at the masked and cloaked being staring at them, they were fairly short, looking to only stand at five foot four, so they were most likely a girl. A quick observation of their armor did in fact confirm them to be female. The masked girl let her cloak rest behind her back instead of huddling in it the way she had when she first arrived, she wore a set of chain mail armor, which was altered slightly for her breasts. The armor went down to her waist, at which point the girl wore a red combat skirt. The masked girl wore a pair of leggings that ended shortly before her skirt and left a little bit of her legs bare. Her feet were completely covered by a pair of black combat boots, and her arms were also covered in armor, while her hands were covered by a pair of gauntlets. The most curious part of the girl was her cloak and her hood, she wore a red cloak that was fastened to the corset that she wore underneath her armor by a silver rose pin, the cloak was slightly ripped and looked as though it had been worn for years. The cloak ended past the girl’s waist but it wasn’t long enough that she could potentially trip on it. The masked girl had the cloak’s hood pulled up as well, which in conjunction with the mask completely covered her face. The mask was the true star of the show, red and grey, the mask was old and well worn, with several bits of red paint having come off throughout the years, the mask seemed to be metallic, and it even lacked eye holes instead there was a red line that seemed to serve in place of eye holes, being a small window to the rest of the world. The mask even resembled a face a little bit, because it got narrower as it reached the girl’s jaw, while it widened near her cheeks and mouth. 

“What’s going on?” The girl’s voice seemed to be deepened somewhat by the mask, and her voice even had a sort of synthetic and metallic quality to it, but it was kind of pointless considering the fact that her armor showed off her gender perfectly. Torchwick assumed that without the mask the girl would have a rather high pitched voice, but the master criminal couldn’t be certain.

“Isn’t it obvious Red?” The girl just stared at him, and Torchwick got the feeling that underneath the mask she was giving him a rather unimpressed stare.

“Uh boss?” One of the goons started speaking nervously as he stared at the masked girl, “Is she that Rigel character?”

The other henchmen stared at her nervously, and Ruby grinned underneath her mask, Rigel had been a convenient name for her to take, while she ran from the tribe and she had kept using it even when she safely arrived in Sanus, sometimes on her worst days she even thought of herself as Rigel, it was comfier, and easier to be Rigel, when Ruby thought of herself as Rigel she could stare herself in the mirror without being consumed by her guilt. Besides Rigel was a unique name, while Ruby was much more common, if she wanted to build a reputation she would need to be unique. So she came up with a fake name for herself, Rigel Naasade, people who heard the name thought that it was just a unique name and family, instead the name reflected who Ruby was at heart,  _ Naasade  _ (Nobody). 

“Come on!” Torchwick protested gesturing at Ruby, “She’s too young, anyway GET HER!” The suited men approached Ruby promptly but she could tell that they had no training whatsoever, most had cheaply made blades, and knives, and it looked like one had a shotgun but they would be no threat to her. Ruby reached behind her back and grabbed the compact scythe that she kept at her waist. Crescent Rose quickly sprang into full bloom and the thieves paused to look at the scythe warily, the grip was grey and stylized with red and black rose vines, covered with thorns. The blade was split into three segments and was the same shade of silver as Ruby’s armor, and her unique eyes. Along the base of the blade was a single jeweled red eye. The blade was sharp on both ends, so if Ruby needed to she could swing the scythe the other way, but that would abandon any technique involved with the weapon, and Ruby wasn’t keen on trying it. The thieves came at Ruby as a collective unit, and all it took for Ruby to stop them was a single wide sweep of Crescent Rose, the men had to have a little bit of aura because they weren’t instantly killed, instead they were flung outside of the shop, shattering the window and spreading glass all over the floor and the street. Ruby leapt through the window when she saw Torchwick strolling casually through the door, “You truly were worth every Lien I paid you for, truly!” The criminal didn’t even try to mask his disgust with the henchmen who were still sprawled across the street.

Torchwick paused to check his scroll, before he let out a sigh, “Well Red it looks like this is where we will have to part ways!” Torchwick pointed his cane at Ruby, and the end opened up to reveal a simple targeting scope. Ruby tensed as she prepared her semblance, Torchwick released the shot and Ruby started running. The chief had once asked Ruby how it felt to be a cloud of petals, traveling at speeds only airships could replicate, but truly Ruby didn’t know, because for her at least her semblance didn’t feel like speeding up, instead it felt like everything else slowed down, it was why she could use her semblance to do things overs with speed semblances couldn’t, because for them they sped up and it took training to know how to stop without hurting themselves, but for Ruby everything just moved so slowly and she moved at a normal speed.

Ruby easily dodged the bullet to Torchwick’s shock, the criminal released another blast, but before he could fire a third the masked girl was suddenly in his face. The criminal barely had time to block the girl’s first attack with Melodic Cudgel. Torchwick continued to backpedal as the masked girl continued to force him backwards with a series of lightning fast strikes, even worse was the amount of power put into the strikes, the girl was perhaps the fastest fighter Torchwick had ever seen, but each of her swings were powerful, currently the criminals only hope was to outlast the girl. Ruby continued to attack the fleeing criminal, Ruby was almost disappointed in the lack of fight that he put up, clearly Torchwick was used to fighting unsuspecting opponents, for someone with such a reputation he was surprisingly weak. Ruby continued to twirl Crescent Rose as she attacked, one thing she had learned over the years was that her opponents tended to follow the blade as she swung, so rapidly spinning it was a good way for her to throw them off. Rby trawled the scythe off to her side and sure enough Torchwick prepared to guard his side, instead Ruby attacked him with an overhead blow, Torchwick managed to bring his cane up in time to block, but Melodic Cudgel had gotten hooked on Crescent Rose’s blade, Ruby yanked the scythe back, and Torchwick’s cane was wrested from his hand. The thief blinked before he began rapidly speaking, looking to do anything to save his own skin, “Look Red, I was thinking-” The thief’s words were cut off by Ruby slamming a metal fist into his face, before slamming Crescent Rose’s blund grip into his head, effectively knocking the thief out cold for a while. 

“ _ Hut’uun _ (coward)” Ruby muttered the tribal insult underneath her breath before she grabbed her scroll and quickly called the police. The call was brief and soon officers arrived to take Torchwick and his men into custody, the officer in charge quickly presented Ruby with her reward which she was thankful to take. Many may have considered it dishonorable to take payment for capturing someone who was a danger to citizens but the way Ruby saw it  _ ijaat  _ (honor) was for fools. Honor wasn’t going to give Ruby a place to sleep while she was in town, nor would it put food in her stomach. Besides Ruby wasn’t a hunter anyways, she was technically a mercenary, if she could take a reward other than money she would, most settlements agreed to give her food and shelter and that was good enough, but in big cities like Vale things were different. Ruby went to attach her scroll to her wait again only to pause when she saw the wall paper, the picture showed a younger but still masked Ruby, sitting with and talking to several masked people, the one closest to Ruby was an older woman wearing a Grimm mask. “ _ Sur’ar  _ (focus) Ruby.” The girl muttered the words to herself before she put her scroll away only to pause when she noticed that there was another woman who came with the police, but she was definitely not a police. She looked like a manager or a teacher of all things, with blonde hair, severe eyes covered by glasses, and a purple cloak. The woman just pointed to the police car, and somehow Ruby knew that obeying was her only option.

* * *

“What did you think you were doing?” The blonde haired woman snapped, slamming her riding crop down on the metal table. Underneath her mask Ruby flinched slightly but since the woman couldn’t see it she just sighed instead. Ruby’s hands were currently shackled, but not to the point that they were uncomfortable.

“I was stopping a … thief.” Was all Ruby said but she had to pause briefly in order to make sure that she didn’t use a tribal word on accident, she didn’t know who this lady was and for all Ruby knew she could be an enemy to the tribe, and while that could be good for Ruby, she didn’t want to be labeled as another criminal just because she spoke the tribe’s language. 

“You call yourself a mercenary.” The woman leaned closer as she stared at Ruby’s mask hoping to see the girl who hid herself, Ruby’s only request was that the police let her keep the mask, and surprisingly they agreed, but they did take Ruby’s cloak in so the blonde woman had gotten a glimpse at Ruby’s unique hair color, “and the police were happy to accept that to capture Torchwick, but another word that could describe you is vigilante, which is illegal in Vale.”

Ruby just sighed under her mask again, this wasn’t going in a direction that Ruby liked to here, “If I were in charge.” The blonde woman continued speaking, “I would send you home with a pat on the back and a slap on the wrist.” The woman slammed her riding crop into the table again, and underneath her mask Ruby flinched again, her silver eyes closed as she desperately tried to block out the rising memoires.

_ The cracking of whips, the screams of the dying, snarls of Grimm, burning buildings, a little girl’s scream of terror, the chief's voice raised in a furious yell, and darkness, so much darkness, unending darkness.  _

Ruby jostled against her chains and she was back in the police station, still bound. Ruby ached to massage her wrists all of a sudden, even though the chains weren’t on tight, “But luckily for you.” The blonde lady muttered underneath her breath, “Someone else wants to see you.”

“Thank you Glynda.” a new voice spoke and Ruby had to bite her tongue to avoid laughing, the woman’s name was Glynda?

An older man stepped into the room, his hair looked to be a minty green, but it was starting to grey, he certainly had a sophisticated vibe to him, and the steaming mug of coffee he carried didn’t help change Ruby’s opinion. The man also carried a plate of cookies, which he set down on the metal table, before he unlocked the cuffs that bound Ruby’s hands. The now freed mercenary massaged her wrists before looking at the sweet desert. She wanted to eat them so badly but she refused to take her mask off in front of others, not even just other people, strangers.

“...”

“You can eat those you know.” The man pointed out, gesturing at the cookies from his seat, before pausing to sip from his coffee.

“I can’t.” Was all Ruby said in response, the man blinked before he nodded in understanding, Inside her mask Ruby frowned, the man knew about the tribe’s rules, who was he? And how did he know?

“You’re certain that you don’t want any?” The man asked as he reached over to eat a cookie himself.

“This is the way.” was Ruby’s response, as she stared at the cookies longingly. 

“It would seem that introductions are in order.” The man spoke leaning over the table slightly, “I am Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy.”

“Rigel.” Ruby spoke using her alias, “Rigel Naasade.” Ruby noticed that the man’s eyes narrowed at her use of a last name, and Ruby was struck that he somehow knew what the word meant, somehow he knew the tribe’s language, or at least parts of it.

“Why did Raven send you, Rigel Nobody?” Ruby inhaled sharply, Ozpin did know what the word meant, “Why you? I imagine that if she wanted a spy she would use one who would be willing to remove their mask.”

“I’m not a spy.” Ruby spoke quickly now, trying to prove her innocence, “And really I’m just a wandering traveler, going from settlement to settlement, Vale was just my latest stop. I have no association with the Branwen Tribe, not anymore at least.” Ruby muttered the last part under her breath, but somehow Ozpin seemed to have heard her.

“You left?” Ozpin questioned, sounding impressed, “I’m sure it’s an exciting story?   
  


“Not really.” Ruby dismissed, “I wasn’t going to commit more evil for them, so I ran, wandering on my own for the last two years, helping people who need it, trying to do some good in this world.” 

“We seem to be at a crossroad.” Ozpin mused, “Your act of vigilantism was technically a crime in Vale, but by your own admission you are a mercenary, and a traveller.”

Ruby nodded and waited for Ozpin to continue, “ I would hate to see you imprisoned Miss Naasade, so instead I have a business offer for you.”

Underneath her mask Ruby’s eyebrows raised, Ozpin might be able to bend the rules for her, “Join my school Miss Naasade.”

“What do I get out of this?”

“Well a place to rest, food, more training to do more good in this world.” Ozpin rattled off the benefits, “And of course a way to avoid prison.” Ruby did have to nod at that.

“Then what do YOU get out of this?” Instead of being offended by her question Ozpin seemed amused.

“Why, I get the chance to right one of my many, many wrongs.”

“I’ll do it.” Ozpin nodded at her answer, and the two remained sitting in silence for a while, Ruby was ready to leave, but Ozpin still looked like he had something to say.

“Your family is still looking for you Miss Rose.” Ruby’s silver eyes widened underneath her mask, how did he? Ruby moved to pull her cloak tighter around her body, only to pause when she realized that she didn’t have it. 

“How did you know?” Ruby’s voice was filtered by the mask, but Ozpin could hear the fear in it.

Ozpin just chuckled kindly at the scared fifteen year old, “That’s your mother’s mask.” The headmaster pointed out, “I was there when Raven gave it to Summer, and I must have seen it a thousand times.”

Ruby just nodded before she suddenly looked up, “My family?”   
  


Ozpin shook his head sadly, just what had Raven taught Ruby when she was growing up? “Yes, your father, your sister, and your uncle, they never stopped looking for you.”

“I’m not ready to face them.” Ruby muttered to herself, as she brushed the strands of her hair that were reaching the base of her neck back, “My hands are stained red with blood, they would never accept me, I’m not worthy.”

“Very well Miss Naasade.” Ozpin sounded disappointed when he used her fake name, “Beacon starts in four days, just arrive on time for the Bullhead and we will take care of the rest.” Ozpin finally left the room, and Ruby was finally free to leave, she quickly gathered her belongings before she slung her cloak back over her shoulders and covered her face with her hood, “What did I get myself into?” The night sky offered no response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely like the start of the rewrite much better than the start of the original, this might be the longest chapter that I've ever written, hopefully the new formatting for tribal words makes it easier for you guys.


	3. Lonely Flame

Ruby tried to ignore the curious stares that her fellow students were sending her while she sat silently on the airship. Currently she was sitting alone in a corner with her hood pulled up, and of course her ever present mask was concealing her face, the mask had already caught the attention of several hopeful students, and a few had even tried talking to her, one of them was a boisterous ginger girl. The ginger talked so long and so fast, that eventually an ebony haired boy with a magenta stripe walked over and apologized for his friend, Nora’s behavior. Ruby silently accepted the apology and learned that the girl, Nora, and the boy, Ren, came to Beacon together. But not “together” together, Nora had been very quick to explain that she and Ren weren’t actually together, just friends who had known each other for years. Ruby just stayed silent for the entire thing, Nora seemed nice, and Ren seemed like someone she could get along with, but Ruby had noticed that Ren in particular wore traditional Mistral clothing, if anyone would know about the tribe it would be people from Anima. Thankfully Ruby’s mask didn’t mean anything to Ren, and eventually Ren and Nora took seats a little bit away from Ruby. 

Ruby herself was content to just watch and observe her fellow hopeful students, for the next four years they would only know her as Rigel, there was no point in her getting close to them, all they would be getting close to was a lie. Ruby leaned into a window to get a better look outside. The view was breathtaking, there were so many mountains in the Kingdom of Vale, Anima might feature several cliffs, but it had nothing on the mountains of Vale, besides rain was much scarcer in Vale than Mistral, that would always be a plus for Ruby. 

Ruby felt herself inhale sharply at the first sight of Beacon, growing up as part of the tribe, and then wandering from settlement to settlement meant that Ruby had very little interactions with cities, Vale itself had been a rarity, but something about Beacon just made it different from anything Ruby had ever seen. There was a life to Beacon, Ruby could tell that much even from her vantage point in the airship. Ruby felt something stir in herself as she saw the school that she would be attending for the next few years, it had been so long since she felt like this that Ruby wasn’t even sure what she was feeling, all she did know was that she wanted to protect this wonderful place.

The airship landed and Ruby immediately had second thoughts about her previous declaration, a blonde haired boy, wearing an odd combination of civilian clothing, and armor threw up on the ship’s floor. Several people laughed at the guy, while others wrinkled their noses in disgust. Ruby found herself immensely thankful that she was wearing a mask, because the smell must have been awful. Ruby walked after the other students at a leisurely pace, content to stay away from the other hopeful students. Ruby however was forced to pause when she spotted a familiar mane of hair. Ruby shook her head and checked again, sure enough the mane of hair was still there, long, wavy, and a striking golden. Ruby blinked under her mask golden? Sure enough the beauty who the hair belonged to was a blonde haired girl, not the ebony locks of Raven Branwen. Ruby sighed to herself, she knew that Raven had an  _ ad _ (child) but the odds of meeting her at Beacon of all places were incredibly low. 

A gaggle of girls were surrounding Raven’s daughter, the girls were all chatting excitedly amongst each other until one girl, she looked like she might be a dog faunus of some kind turned around and noticed Ruby’s masked but curious stare, “Hey Yang.” Raven’s daughter turned around, and Ruby breathed an internal sigh of relief when she saw that Yang possessed warm lilac eyes, instead of Raven’s cold and unforgiving crimson, “Do you know this person?”

All the girl’s paused as Yang walked over to Ruby, and the two girls stared at each other, Ruby allowed her cloak to rest rather than continue to sink into it, and stood up straight, to her dismay she was still a few inches shorter than Yang. “No I don’t Fiona.” Yang spoke to her friends before she grinned and winked at Ruby, “But I’m Yang, as you already heard, Yang Xiao Long.”

“Rigel.” Yang didn’t seem deterred by Ruby’s rather clipped answer, and the two exchanged a firm handshake. Under her mask Ruby’s eyebrows raised, Yang had quite the strong grip. Both girls seem to share the same thought because after the handshake ended, both lightly massaged their knuckles. 

Yang gesterred briefly with her head, and Ruby took that as an invitation to walk with her and her friends, Ruby for the most part remained silent during the trip to the auditorium, she drew her cloak around her body and simply allowed Yang and her friends to keep talking, she eventually learned that Yang was from Patch, and that her dad was actually a teacher at Beacon, and that Yang had an uncle who worked as a full time huntsman.

“What about you Rigel?” Finoa, the squirrel faunus asked, after a few minutes of silence. 

“...?”

“She’s asking where you’re from? What do your parent’s do?”

“Nowhere.” was all that Ruby said, but she sighed when she saw the confused looks she was getting, “I’m not from anywhere, I wander from place to place, as for what my parents do, I don’t know.”

Yang looked down, and Ruby could tell that she was thinking about Raven, personally Ruby thought that Raven didn’t deserve an  _ ad _ (child) like Yang, the girl had proven to be friendly and sociable, but also kind. She must have gotten those traits from her father, because Raven was anything but those traits, Raven was a right  _ demagolka _ (real-life monster). 

“My mother is dead.” Ruby spoke the truth rather bluntly, her mother being dead was one of the few things that Ruby knew about her own past, Raven was willing to tell Ruby her mother’s name, Summer Rose, an honorary member of the tribe, even being part of House Branwen. For other’s it was an honor to be part of House Branwen, but not for Ruby Rose, of Clan Rose, and House Branwen. Honor was for  _ or’dinii  _ (fools). “And I don’t know who or where my father is, maybe one day I’ll find him.” 

Yang paused to give Ruby a sympathetic glance that Ruby didn’t want, only to pause and glance quizzically at Ruby’s red mask, “What is that?”

Ruby brought a gauntlet up to touch her mask, “It’s my mask.” She stated simply.

“Yes but why wear it?”

“This mask belonged to my mother.” Ruby’s voice dropped a few degrees in temperature, and with the mask’s filtering she sounded quite sinister, “Now it’s mine.”

“Yeah but how would you eat?”

“I would wear a different mask, or eat away from others.”

“You don’t let anyone see your face?” Fiona asked in surprise.

“This is the way.” Ruby nodded, agreeing with the faunus.

Yang and her group of friends paused to look at their masked companion strangely. Ruby herself also was paused but she was looking at something else entirely. Across the courtyard a short white haired beauty was yelling at the blonde boy who had thrown up earlier, lingering a few feet away was a ebony haired beauty with apathetic amber eyes, and a black bow that matched her hair rested on top of her head. “What are they doing here?” Ruby muttered the question to herself, quietly enough that Yang couldn’t hear her, Fiona must have heard her though because the squirrel faunus gave Ruby a strange look.

Ruby blinked once, then twice, but both girls were still standing there. “I have to go.” Ruby found her body working faster than her mind. She immediately kept walking, ignoring Yang and Fiona’s cries of protest. Ruby continued walking towards the auditorium, ignoring the curious looks she was getting. Ruby kept walking until she quite literally ran into someone.

* * *

“You should watch where you’re going.” a strong but tan hand offered itself to her, and Ruby pulled herself only to find herself staring at a middle aged man, he had a strong tan, and his blonde hair was reminiscent of Yang’s but his was more sandy and less golden. His arms were ripped and like his daughter his grip was extremely strong. Ruby wouldn’t have been able to place him at first, but his eyes while different in color than Yang’s contained the same playful mirth in them, but like his daughter his eyes carried a large amount of pain to them. Ruby paused and stiffened up when she realized she was staring at Raven’s  _ riduur _ (partner). Ruby was fairly certain that Yang said that her father was named Tai Yang, but the man was staring at Ruby, or more specifically her mask with the same look that Yang had, a strange quizzical look but Tai Yang’s was much more fearful, and shocked, “Su-su-Summer?” The man managed to ask. Ruby felt her blood run cold, this man was on a team with Raven and her mother, so it would make sense that he knew who Summer was, but how did Ruby explain how she had the mask?

“No sir, Summer was my  _ buir _ (parent)” Ruby decided that using the tribal word might be her best bet, maybe the man wouldn’t know what it meant, and just assume that Summer was Ruby’s teacher or something.

“Ruby?” Tai Yang asked in shock. Ruby felt herself go numb, because clearly Tai Yang also knew what the words meant, though since he was Raven’s  _ riduur  _ (spouse) maybe Ruby should have just assumed that he did.

Ruby felt that same flame in her gut burn brighter than before, this was the feeling that brought her to Vale, and this man might know where she came from, and where her father was. Ruby felt herself hesitantly nod, and Tai Yang immediately scooped her up in a bone crushing embrace, “Ruby! We’ve been searching for you for so long! Yang was nearly ready to give up hope! Do you remember Yang?”

“We’ve met.” Ruby grunted through the hug, Tai sheepishly released her and Ruby stumbled before she got her breath back, “How did you know my mother?”   
  


“Ruby.” Tai blinked in surprise, “I was on a team with your mother and father.”

“What! My father?”

“Yeah Summer and Qrow, Yang technically isn’t your sibling, but you were so close as kids that we just called you sisters, I was Uncle Tai, or whatever you were trying to babble as a kid.”

“Wait Qrow? As in Raven’s brother?”

“How do you know about Raven?”

“...”

“That’s where you’ve been all this time?”

“For most of my life.” Ruby shrugged, “I’ve been wandering around Sanus for the last two years, stuck around settlements near Vacuo.”

“So you knew my father?” Ruby continued to press Tai for information, if he could guide her to her father, she could finally find him.

“I know your father, he’s my best friend!” Tai corrected. The man paused to see Yang and her group of friends finally catch up. Tai quickly embraced his daughter only to gesture to Ruby who began squirming uncomfortably, “Yang I found her.”

“What?”

“Ruby, I found her!”

“Dad, that’s Rigel, I met her while we were walking.”

“No it’s her Yang, take a closer look at her mask.”

Yang walked over to do just that before she gasped and also pulled Ruby into a bone crushing hug. “Why would you call yourself Rigel?” Yang demanded, her eyes now the exact shade as Raven’s. Ruby blinked in shock before she quickly tried to get away, Ruby tried to back away, only to back into someone. Raven was getting closer, Ruby tried to reach for Crescent Rose but she couldn't. Raven was getting even closer, ready to strike. Ruby desperately grasped the dagger at her waist and brandished it threateningly, “Get away from me Raven!” Ruby spit the words out like poison and Raven stopped moving before blinking and suddenly her eyes were a warm lilac. Ruby blinked in surprise, Raven didn’t have lilac eyes. Ruby blinked again and Raven was gone, in her place was Yang, looking at her in concern, while Yang’s friends looked at her like she was crazy.

Yang shot Fiona and a look at the squirrel girl led the rest of the gang away to the auditorium. Tai led Ruby and Yang to an empty classroom, before he stared at both girl’s at a seeming loss on what to say. “Sorry.” Ruby spoke to break the silence in the classroom, “I was… somewhere else.”

Tai nodded but shot Ruby a look of concern. Yang huffed in before she exploded, launching into a series of questions, Ruby blocked out most of them but her mind did zero in on one, “Why call yourself Rigel? Why lie?”

“Being Rigel is easier.” Ruby admitted looking at her armored hands, to the outside viewer they were impeccable, just like the rest of Ruby’s armor, but to her, she could still see all the blood that had stained it over the years, it was practically entirely crimson, “Rigel’s hands aren’t stained red with blood.”

“Ruby?”

“I’m not a good person.” The mask filtered Ruby’s voice, and blocked out the sound of her crying softly, “But Rigel can be.”

“But why lie to us? Why not come straight to us?”

Ruby scoffed at that question, “Why would I? Raven'' Ruby's words became chilly at the mention of the woman who ruined all of their lives, “Never told me if I had a family. I obviously knew I had a father, but I didn't know who he was, and I didn't know about you, minus the fact that your Raven’s  _ ad _ (child) and your her  _ riduur  _ (spouse).” Ruby pointed to Yang and Tai respectively.

“Why won’t you just take the mask off?” Yang pleaded.

Ruby paused, technically she could take the mask off, at least in front of Yang and Tai. The rules of the tribe said that she could only take the mask off in front of  _ aliit  _ (family) and Yang and Tai did qualify. Ruby reached up to her face, and her hands met the metal of her mask. Tai and Yang stared at her excitedly, but eventually Ruby’s fingers went numb and she released the mask, “I can’t.” She choked the words out, “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Tai just watched numbly as Ruby ran out of the classroom in a cloud of rose petals. Yang just stared at him blankly, “What do we do now dad?” Tai wished that he had an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that I tend to notice about stories where Ruby is hiding her identity from her family is that they tend to never figure it out until halfway through, I wanted to do something different, where Ruby's mask, ironically the thing that is meant to keep her identity safe, is what gives her away, because Oz, and Tai both recognize it.
> 
> But the problem is that Ruby isn't in a position to open up to her new found family, she wants family, which is why she reaches up to take the mask off, but she can't bring herself to open up, which is why the mask ultimately stays on.


	4. The Solitary Star

Ruby sat alone in a corner of the auditorium, the revelations she had found out earlier in the day had given her a lot to think about, she had a chance to reunite with the family that had been stolen from her by Raven and the Tribe. But her words from her meeting with Ozpin came back to her, she was a  _ demagolka  _ (monster) her hands were stained red with  _ tal  _ (blood) and until she had fully atoned for her sins, she wouldn’t be worthy of their love. Ruby just drew her cloak tighter around her body, her cloak and mask, two things that had belonged to her mom, the only things she had from either of her buir. (parents) Ruby felt her hands clench up at the thought of her father, Raven never told her who he was, even though she knew exactly who he was. Qrow Branwen, Ruby never would have thought that he of all people would be her father, whenever someone in the Tribe spoke of Qrow they would call him an  _ aruteii,  _ (traitor) a  _ hut’uun  _ (coward) and Ruby had just gone along with it, never questioning why someone so close to the previous chief, and current chief would just leave the Tribe behind. 

Ruby’s masked gaze wandered over to Yang, her cousin, who called her sister, was talking with her friends, fairly quietly and she looked much more melancholy than she did earlier. Ruby allowed her gaze to wander, trying to see if Professor Xiao-Long was anywhere near, however the blonde teacher was nowhere to be found, that revelation allowed Ruby to relax, until her body reflexively tensed up at the sight of a short, white haired girl marching over to Yang, the girl started saying something, most likely a complaint about the noise Yang was making, which Ruby thought was a little excessive, sure Yang and her friends were making some noise, but not enough for anyone to complain about. Ruby sighed and stood up from her isolated corner, making her way over to Yang and the crabby girl, ignoring the warning bells that were going off in her head.

“What’s going on here?” Ruby asked as she lightly touched the white haired girl’s shoulder, the girl tensed up before she whirled around, her icy blue eyes frigid and cold. Inside her mask, Ruby tensed up as the blood drained from her face, because she had seen the white eyes before, much more innocent, and much more scared but the eyes were the same. Ruby felt her body freeze up as her mind went elsewhere, caught up in a  _ tome’tayl  _ (memory) that practically felt like a lifetime ago.

_ Ruby ran through the town, looking for her target, the Alor (chief) had been incredibly vague, only saying that they would be working with the White Fang, and that they would be hitting a SDC target. Ruby cleared her mind as she recalled her mission, find the Schnee and end their life. Ruby as a thirteen year old adiik (child) would be able to get in unnoticed, and in the chaos slit the Schnee’s throat.  _

_ Ruby skidded to a stop as another explosion rocked the ground, the Fang were practically nuisances, making it harder and harder for Ruby to find her target in the chaos. “Stop the Schnee!” one of the masked faunus cried out, as he pointed at two fleeing figures. One of them was a slightly older man, and he looked to be carrying an injured girl, shielding her with his body Ruby aimed Crescent Rose at the ground and fired up, using her scythe’s great recoil to send herself flying onto one of the non burning building’s roof. Ruby shifted her scythe to sniper mode, as she knelt down, looking through the scope. Ruby counted down the equation in her head as the man finally got in her line of sight. Ruby pressed the trigger without hesitation and for a moment it seemed the whole battlefield went silent, as the bullet traveled and traveled, before it struck the older man, without an aura and hit in a vytal area he was already dead before he hit the ground. _

_ Ruby used her semblance to scamper down the side of the building before she came to a halt in front of the Schnee and a group of faunus. The faunus all grinned wickedly at the sight of the Schnee, alone and defenseless, ready to finally enact their revenge on the family that oppressed them for years. Behind her mask, Ruby’s eyes dispassionately followed the faunus’s gazes, until they landed on the Schnee. At the sight of the white haired girl, Ruby paled and her eyes widened, this girl was so small, so frail, so weak. Inside her mind the Alor’s (chief's) voice taunted Ruby as she recited the Tribe’s mantra “The weak die, the strong live.”  _

_ But this girl was well, she hardly looked to be any older than an adiik. (child) Something in Ruby stirred as she looked at the broken Schnee. The lead faunus, a young bull with red hair raised his red sword, ready to end the Schnee’s life. Ruby felt her body move on it’s own, as she burst into petals, before reforming in front of Schnee, her scythe out.  _

_ Ruby blocked the strike ready to end Weiss Schnee’s life, and the bull faunus actually stepped back in surprise, unable to believe that someone in the Tribe would betray him and the Fang. “What are you doing!”  _

_ “...” Ruby offered no response, because honestly she wasn’t sure why she had acted, Weiss Schnee looked up in surprise at the sight of her impromptu savior. Ruby stumbled back from the weight of the faunus’s strike. “Run!” Ruby ordered the Schnee, who took off, despite the fact that she, Weiss Schnee, was getting ordered around by a common thirteen year old girl, a criminal thirteen year old girl.  _

_ Ruby brought Crescent Rose up to block the next two strikes from the faunus, before she leapt back, grabbing something out of one of her belt’s small pouches. Ruby chucked the small flashbang down before she broke into petals, chasing after the Schnee. Ruby caught up with the injured girl easily, scooping her up and running, running aimlessly, running away from everything. _

Ruby jolted as she came back to the present, the cold eyes of Weiss Schnee staring at her for the first time in two years. 

* * *

Ruby immediately turned around and walked away at a brisk pace, storming out of the auditorium before Yang or Weiss could say anything to her. Ruby felt her body relax once she was outside in one of Beacon's many courtyards, the stars were beautiful like always, Ruby let her gaze wander until it landed on the star that she named herself after, Rigel. Ruby sat, enjoying her solitude, until she felt a presence creep up on her. Ruby drew Crescent Rose and brandished it at her enemy, only to lower the weapon when she saw that it was just Weiss Schnee.

"What do you want?" Ruby asked coldly, putting on her professional persona, hopefully she could just scare the older girl into leaving her alone.

"I know you." Weiss spoke confidently, and Ruby muttered a tribal curse under her breath, of course, Weiss was from Atlas, they practically loved and breathed cold professionalism.

"Miss, I've never seen you before in my life."

"That's a lie and we both know it." Weiss spoke in a quieter tone, "I know that you're the girl who saved my life two years ago, you wear her mask, and you sound the same."

Ruby sighed as she stood up to leave, why did her mother's mask keep giving her away, at this rate she would be better off wearing a different mask, but the one on her face, was one of the few things Ruby had left of Summer Rose, she couldn't just give it up. "Why does that matter?"

"I guess." Weiss sounded unsure of herself for a moment, "I guess, I just wanted to say thank you." The heiress offered a hand out for a professional shake, and the masked mercenary paused for a brief moment, before she took the heiress's delicate hand and shook it, ignoring the way that her head whispered that she was a coward. 

Because a coward, was what Ruby was at heart. The mercenary sincerely doubted that the heiress would ever want to be near the mercenary, if she found out that Ruby was supposed to be her assassin. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't my best work, but I wanted to get this chapter out today, and I have alot of school stuff happening this week, so if it wasn't published today it probably wouldn't have gotten done for an entire week.


	5. IMPORTANT NOTE

**So, it’s been like a minute since I’ve updated this story, and I think you guys deserve to know why, the biggest reason is that I’ve been utterly engrossed in another story of mine, Scattered Petals, it has been taking up alot of my writing time lately, but I’m also having a lot of fun writing it, and I’ve been blown away by how much people seem to enjoy Scattered Petals. The second reason is that school has honestly just been a bitch to me lately, I’ve basically had a test and or a project for every single class in the last few weeks, thankfully the tests are almost over, I should just have one more regular test, and one more project, but I’m also trying to juggle preparing for the ACT, which I’m taking in April. Basically, life has just been extremely hard on me these last couple of weeks, and its made it so that I feel like I can really only focus on one story with a single minded focus, which has been Scattered Petals. I don’t particularly enjoy having that single minded focus on only one story, and I like it when I can balance everything out, but lately that just hasn’t been possible.**

**So I’m basically here to say that I plan on taking a hiatus for a while, so I can better prepare for these last few tests and projects, while also spending more time preparing for the ACT, because lately I’ve only really had time to prepare for that on the weekends, and I do need more time. I hope you all can understand.**

**I may post a few more chapters for Scattered Petals, but for the next, two, maybe three weeks, I will be mostly silent.**

**Lastly, thank you for taking time out of your day to read this.**


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